Chocolate Hazelnut Granola Bars

These Chocolate Hazelnut Granola Bars combine the perfect natural sweetness of dates and maple syrup with the textural crunch from the oven baked oats and toasted hazelnuts. Together these simple ingredients come together to form a perfect afternoon (or even a breakfast bite!).

I’ve been looking for an afternoon snack for the kids that is filling, tasty, sweet and looks like it would be really naughty (but actually isn’t!). These granola bars fit the bill perfectly!

So what’s in Chocolate Hazelnut Granola Bars

With just a handful of ingredients you can have yourself a really delicious snack. They pack in the healthy fats with the peanut butter and hazelnuts while keeping you full for a long time after from the rolled oats.

Rolled oats: Now I toasted my oats tossed in coconut oil and maple syrup as we love the crunch and taste that comes with the toasted oats. Saying that, toasting isn’t vital. If you prefer a softer bite to the bar, then just add them in as they are.

Hazelnuts: An essential ingredient to these bars. Chocolate and hazelnut… well they make a perfect combination of flavours (think nutella!)

Maple Syrup: The natural sweetener of the bar. (How good is the taste of maple syrup? I just looooove it!)

Cocoa Powder: These aren’t called chocolate hazelnut granola bars for nothing. The cocoa brings in the chocolate look with the added health benefits that a small amount adds to the bars. A 1/4 cup between 10 bars- not much at all!

Chocolate chips: Ok well I wanted to add a little bit of naughty into these bars, and dark chocolate is as good a naughty as you can get. Add half into the mix and drizzle the rest on top. Or drizzle the whole lot on the top to create a layer. Either way the bitter notes of the dark chocolate offsets the sweetness perfectly.

Dates: when blended with the other ingredients the dates become the binder of these bars, that along with the maple syrup, hold the bars together. They’re nicknamed ‘nature’s candy’ and rightly so as they impart a beautiful sweetness

Peanut Butter: Add to the nutty tart of the bars but also helps bind them together. I’ve specified smooth peanut butter in my recipe (as it’s my favourite) but you can use any type of nut butter like almond or cashew if you like

Coconut oil: Added to the oats whilst toasting to allow them to crisper up

Salt: With anything sweet I always add a good pinch of salt to the majority of my desserts as its addition naturally enhances the natural flavours of the other ingredients.

Water: The water is added to the date and nut paste just to relax it and make it smoother which in turn aids in mixing in the oats and hazelnuts

Reasons to eat these delicious bars?

Where do I begin. Let me help you with some of my reasons why you should make these:

• Only 7 ingredients to perfection! (Let’s not count salt and water!)

• No bake … Is that a push?! Toasting the oats and hazelnuts is optional. But a bonus is that there’s no baking at the end

• Super filling. Those oats work their magic and keep you full for ages

• Incredibly tasty. Think Ferrero Rocher…chocolate and hazelnut are a brilliant and tasty combination

I could go on and on, but you get my drift…these are delicious and I truly hope that you make them.

For more inspiration check out these (maybe not so healthy) recipes!

Browned Butter White Chocolate Blondies

Chocolate Raspberry Crumble Bars

Hazelnut Chocolate Granola Bars

★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews

• Author: Emma
• Prep Time: 25
• Cook Time: 20
• Total Time: 45 minutes
• Yield: 10 1x
• Category: Bars
• Method: No-Bake
• Cuisine: British

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Description

These Chocolate Hazelnut Granola Bars combine the perfect natural sweetness of the dates and maple syrup with the textural crunch from the oven baked oats and toasted hazelnut. Together these simple ingredients come together to form a perfect afternoon (or even a breakfast bite!)

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Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

270g (3 cups) rolled oats

2 tablespoons coconut oil 

70g (1/2 cup) maple syrup, split into 35g and 35g plus extra if neccessary

140g (1 cup) hazelnuts

160g (1 cup) medjool dates, pitted and chopped

80g (1/3 cup) smooth peanut butter (or any nut butter if preferred)

2 tablespoons water

1 pinch salt

30g (1/4 cup) cocoa powder

45g (¼ cup) chocolate chips

 

Drizzle (optional) 

45g (¼ cup) dark chocolate chips

½ teaspoon coconut oil

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Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 180C/350F
2. In a large bowl place oats, coconut oil and half of the maple syrup (35g).
3. Pour onto baking tray and spread out evenly. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, stirring half way through, until toasted and golden. 
4. Place hazelnuts onto a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes. (the tray can go into the oven at the same time as the oats. Remove the hazelnuts tray from the oven and allow to cool slightly. The using paper towel, tea towel or between your fingers, rub the hazelnuts and the skins will come off easily. Do this until the majority of the skins have been removed. Divide the hazelnuts in two and roughly chop half the hazelnuts.
5. In a food processor, add the dates, peanut butter, water, salt, the remaining 35g maple syrup and whizz up until a paste has been created. Add the whole hazelnuts and pulse to combine.
6. Into a large mixing bowl, add the toasted oats, cocoa powder, date paste and remaining chopped hazelnuts and stir until fully combined. Add the chocolate chips and stir. 
7. Line a 22cm/9x9in brownie pan with greaseproof parchment paper. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and using the back of a spoon or your fingers, press the mixture down firmly until it’s level and fairly compact.
8. Refrigerate for a couple of hours until the bars are firm and then slice using a sharp knife.
9. To serve, melt dark chocolate and coconut oil together and stir until combined and then drizzle over the top of the bars.

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Notes

To store: Bars can be kept in an air tight container in the fridge for up to a week.

Tip : Toasting the oats is optional and not a necessary step. Also how much you toast them is dependant on your preference.

Tip : Don’t worry about waiting for the oats or hazelnuts to cool before making the paste of mixing everything together. If anything, the warm oats makes the chocolate chips melt slightly. Bonus !

Keywords: dessert, snack, chocolate

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